Customer Reviews

Untamed Italian, Blackmailed Innocent (Harlequin Presents)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

From the back of the book:
The debt: 1,000,000 pounds

No woman has ever shunned wicked Italian tycoon Zac Delucca! But sweet, studious Sally is in a world of her own, looking after her sick mother. Little does she realize her unfocused disinterest is driving Zac's fury! Especially as her father is responsible for embezzling millions from his company.

the payment :her innocence
There's a debt to be paid. Zac will offer Sally an ultimatum--become his mistress on demand or risk ruin! He's confident she'll make the right choice.


My take: Jacqueline Baird writes another winner. The heroine isn't taken with our hero Zac cause her attention is focused solely on her louse of father. A father who cares to so little for Sally's terminally ill mother that it's made Sally swear off of men. Now being a tall striking billionaire, Zac just isn't use to women who wouldn't spit on him if he was on fire. So he goes out of his way to make the heroine his next woman.

Zac finagles Sally into having lunch with him at a restaurant but of course her attention isn't on him. When an old friend(male) passes by, Sally completely forgets about Zac . Zac's blood boils and he vows to do whatever it takes to make Sally his. How convenient is it that Sally's dad is found to have stolen 1million pounds from Zac's company. Zac Bribes Sally with, if you want your father to stay employed so he can pay for your sick mother's care, be my mistress.

Boy was Zac in for a surpise when he found out his mistress was totally inexperienced. His guilt started to eat away at him.

I want you to enjoy the book so I'll lay off anymore spoilers.


offtopic: this title was a real doozy. I was embarrased to read it in public. I wrote a fake grocery list on a post-it to distract from the cover. Harlequin Presents should really go back to 80's titles.

back on topic: One thing I love about Jacqueline Baird's heros is they will "beta themselves" to prove their love to the heroine. Bull headed alphas aren't my cup of tea. I love Charlotte Lamb's books dearly but some of her early hero's were very harsh men. Jacqueline gets the alpha beta balance just right.

you may or may not like:
1. heroine comes from a troubled family.
2. the hero is certified alpha but a has a few beta moments.

Sally Paxton has no interest in handsome womanizing men after seeing how her womanizing father treated her mother. So Sally ignores tycoon Zac Delucca, much to his amazement and irritation. When Zac discovers Sally's father has used his position as account to embezzle from Zac's company, Zac offers Sally a deal: he'll overlook her father's theft if she agrees to become his mistress. Sally agrees to the deal for her mother's sake; her mother still loves her philandering husband. As the story progresses, Zac realizes his assumptions about Sally are wrong and takes stock of the kind of person he's become.

Zac is a pretty typical Harlequin hero. Sally is the more interesting and unique character. She's educated and independent and has more personality. She has her own life and doesn't mope (too much) over the hero. The fact that she is so independent made me feel dissatisfied with the ending. [SPOILER] In the epilogue we learn she's quit her job to move to Italy and be a stay-at-home mom. I don't have anything against mothers who chose to stay at home with their children, but this move didn't fit with Sally's character.

I really liked that fact that Sally was so strong. The whole blackmail thing was explained well. The only reason she gave in was for her love of her mom . . . and okay I think she kind of wanted Zac too! I liked that she really couldn't be intimidated otherwise that despite the fact that she was attracted to Zac she didn't let her body rule her mind as so many of these heroines do. I really, really liked the fact that even though Zac came across as completely Alpha he did show that he could open himself up more at the end. When his latest threat was called he opened his heart to Sally and told her how he really felt. So sweet!

Repetitive story elements are key characteristics of Harlequin romances. It kind of reminds of the cooking show Chopped. All contestantsare given baskets of identical items and given free reign to make it their own.

In this case Jacquline Baird's basket contained the standard Harlequin formula: Innocent Young woman catches the eye of rich tycoon.

Kudos to Baird for taking this forluma and making it her own. The charcters, their lives, emotions, dialogue, history and ambitions are real, modern and well drawn.

Sally is a strong, damaged character with her own life and desires that clash, very entertainingly with those of the hero Zac. Sally is not a heroine who sits around wringing her hands and wondering if the hero will come to love her. What a breath of fresh air.

Over the book, Zac and Sally grew as individuals and as a couple. I could have done without the stock "surprise" at the end, but it ws not enough to diminish my enjoyment of a truly fine romans that has earned its spot on my keeper shelf.

Zac had just bought a new company and discovered that the accountant had embezzled over a million dollars. He had just walked into the company when he spotted Sally. She quite literally took his breath away, she was gorgeous, and just like that he decided he was going to have her. Especially when he smiled at her as she passed him, and she didn't even acknowledge his presence. You can imagine this did not sit well with the alpha, rich, handsome male who never took no for an answer, and since the word no had never been directed at him from any women, this was going to be something new to the jaded Zac. When he discovered the accountant was Sally's father you can only imagine where the blackmail part was going to come from. Sally didn't really care or trusted any man because her father was a rat and had no soul. He didn't love her or her mother, who he avoided at all cost while he had many affairs with other women. Sally was a strong, educated, hard working lady, and she knew exactly what she wanted and didn't want in her life. When she and Zac got together for the reasons that they got together had sparks flying from the pages. They were both jaded for different reasons and both had issues. I don't want to tell you the story, but I want to say it's one of the best I read in a while. Ms Baird my hats off to you because this book was awesome, and I recommend it highly. Every lose end was tied very nicely, I love this book!

Its the same formula but Mrs. Baird made it her own. Lets start off with Zac..sinfully gorgeous and of course an alpha male who was annoyed that Sally did as much as nodded at him when she first sees him. He is used to being fawned over by women. Sally pays him no mind and was not impressed by him or his blatant ogling of her. One thing that I love love about Sally is that she is educated and independent. Oh she is also beautiful and innocent of course. A scenario happens where Sally has no choice but to oblige Zac. I will not give the rest away but I read this book twice definitely a keeper.

Featuring one of the stronger heroines in the HP line - if you cringe at spineless, overly self-sacrifing heroines, you will love Sally. She doesn't dissolve into a puddle of goo when the dark, handsome billionaire casts his roving eye on her. She doesn't jump to sacrifice herself for a cold, embezzling, louse of a father. The situation with Sally's mother was sad and it was understandable that she would have issues.

I liked the hero too. It was amusing to see a HP alpha billionaire hero get ignored for a change and have to work to capture the heroine's notice. His exasperation was kind of endearing. I enjoyed his ruthless pursuit and I also enjoyed that he came to see how wrong he was. He did suffer there for a while.

This is one of the steamier HP's I've read, with well written scenes. Zac and Sally had scorching chemistry together. My one complaint? The heroine doesn't say ILY until the epilogue, one year later. That's just too late for me - she married him, she should have said the words then. Other than that, this was a great HP read.

One of the better HPs I have read. Both characters had depth, convinving emotional reactions, made mistakes, and eventually admitted the total truth to each other. Unlike some of these books, the setup wasn't overly contrived. The book was as nonformulaic as HP can be.